Building a Developer Tools Business

#1

Post by whoisnnamdi » Tue, Nov 12, 2019, 4:01 AM UTC

Building a Developer Tools Business
manifold.co

Re: Building a Developer Tools Business

#2

Post by gdsdfe » Tue, Nov 12, 2019, 5:46 AM UTC

Or sell by telling how to sell ... Not bad

Re: Building a Developer Tools Business

#3

Post by DGCA » Tue, Nov 12, 2019, 5:53 AM UTC

I've noticed that a lot of paid dev tools are just priced too high or that I run the risk of blowing my budget depending on scale. I wish more paid dev tools were aware that I don't actually know my usage up-front, and that I'm scared of potentially ending up with a ridiculous bill if I overlook something.

I totally get that it's on me, but things [like this](https://hackernoon.com/how-we-spent-30k-usd-in-firebase-in-l...) happen, and I'm way more apprehensive of services that make that a possibility. E.g. I'd love to use Auth0 for everything, but the risk of spending way too much on something I can roll myself is always on my mind.

Re: Building a Developer Tools Business

#4

Post by sqs » Tue, Nov 12, 2019, 6:23 AM UTC

I would also recommend dev tools founders (really any founder) read GitLab’s company handbook at https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/, especially the sales and marketing sections. It’s awesome how public they are about how they operate. You’ll learn a lot.

We (Sourcegraph) have started our own company handbook (https://about.sourcegraph.com/handbook), inspired by GitLab. So far it has helped new teammates onboard more quickly and (along with other efforts to diligently document internal practices) helped us work efficiently on a growing team spanning many timezones.

Re: Building a Developer Tools Business

#5

Post by jangid » Tue, Nov 12, 2019, 6:40 AM UTC

This is a promotion of manifold itself. Put it under "Show HN".

Re: Building a Developer Tools Business

#6

Post by FBISurveillance » Tue, Nov 12, 2019, 7:15 AM UTC

Call me cynical, but this article looks like one of those ghost-written SEO articles for self-promotion and improving search result position.

Take a look at DigitalOcean's articles and compare to this one: night and day.

Re: Building a Developer Tools Business

#7

Post by scarejunba » Tue, Nov 12, 2019, 7:31 AM UTC

Here's my opinion without any credentials attached:

* Free tier - essential

* Documentation - essential

* Stack overflow tag - desirable

Re: Building a Developer Tools Business

#8

Post by cvs268 » Tue, Nov 12, 2019, 7:34 AM UTC

scarejunba wrote: post #7

Here's my opinion without any credentials attached: * Free tier - essential * Documentation - essential * Stack overflow tag - desirable

The feeling when you find your problem asked and answered on StackOverflow.com

Some things, Money can't buy. For everything else there's... :P

Re: Building a Developer Tools Business

#9

Post by laserpistus » Tue, Nov 12, 2019, 7:49 AM UTC

A Founders guide to generalising your customers.

«If you want to sell something make features the customer wants to buy and tell them about it»

Re: Building a Developer Tools Business

#10

Post by neom » Tue, Nov 12, 2019, 7:56 AM UTC

scarejunba wrote: post #7

Here's my opinion without any credentials attached: * Free tier - essential * Documentation - essential * Stack overflow tag - desirable

How do you feel about a free tier vs a reasonable try before you buy?